After years of renting apartments in Brooklyn, Alex Kalita was finally ready to buy in 2017. The idea of investing in real estate was appealing, but as the founder of Common Bond Design, an interiors firm, she also wanted the opportunity to renovate, so her home could reflect her sense of style. “I made my Realtor’s job difficult, because I was really looking for a feeling,” said Ms. Kalita, 36. “I didn’t have hard-and-fast criteria, like it has to have 1.5 bathrooms, a minimum number of square feet or any of those categories you would use in a filter on…